Activities galore will fill downtown Iola tonight and Friday night and with something for everyone from early morning until well after dark on Saturday for the 40th annual edition of Farm-City Days.
Free games for youngsters such as limbo, baby crawl, ring toss, penny in a haystack and a car bash are scheduled this evening, along with the Lewellen Carnival offering a variety of rides. A drumming circle, featuring area students, will perform from 6 to 7 and the Wesley Methodist Youth Group will serve hot-dogs, chips and drinks.
Voting for Little Miss Farm-City Days Most Photogenic also will be a part of tonight’s fare. New this year and sponsored by All About U Salon, the contest will continue on Saturday.
Friday evening’s featured events are music from fiddlers and pickers at the bandstand, hot rods available for close-up inspection on the west side of the courthouse square and a variety of foods served by the Allen County Animal Rescue Facility.
The first-ever Pub Crawl, with stops at 5 O’Clock Somewhere, Sidelines Sports Bar and Grill and Scooters, will run from 7 until 2 a.m. Saturday.
The Pub Crawl will be hardly over before all sorts of things will start popping up on Iola’s downtown square.
Starting at 9 a.m. Saturday are the car and motorcycle show on West Street; Allen County Farm Bureau’s AG Central on the southwest corner of the square; an antique tractor show; a horseshoe tournament in Riverside Park; and many craft and commercial vendors punctuated by food booths operated by non-profit groups and organizations scattered about the square.
A 5K run and 3K walk, sponsored by the Allen County Mat Warriors wrestling club, starts at 9:30 a.m.
Finals of the Little Miss Farm-City Days will start at the bandstand, also at 9 o’clock. Free entertainment will run from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., with time off only for the 1 p.m. parade.
Artisans, doing such things as making baskets and showing how blacksmiths once worked, will be on the square starting at 10 a.m.
Festivalgoers will decide the outcome of a chili contest at Sidelines, which will run from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., with winners announced at 2:30 from the stage on the square.
A Battle of the Bands will wrap up this year’s festival from 7 p.m. until midnight at the Iola American Legion, 715 W. Patterson. Admission to hear five bands is $7 in advance at the Iola Area Chamber of Commerce office or the Farm-City Days Committee booth Saturday. Tickets will be $10 at the door.
SPONSORS for this year’s event are Cox Communications, Great Southern Bank, Sidelines Sports Bar and Grill, O’Malley Equipment, The Family Physicians, Herff-Jones, All About U Salon, Allen County Hospital, J&J Contractors, First Title and H&R Block.
